UGH, STILL IN THE DARK

All of my hurricane preparations remain in place! The season is not over. I've been informed it now ends December 1 and not November 1. Once-upon-a-time it was October 1, but that was before Global Warming which fools still continue to deny. -- Ugh! Before long, hurricane season will be year round!

Last year we had a terrifyingly close call with hurricane Matthew in October when everyone was starting to feel safe. Recently, it was Irma. Fortunately, we were spared the worst here on the Atlantic Coast, although we did not go unscathed. Irma was a gigantic monster!

After Matthew, my house remained boarded into November. But it felt like forever!

Our 1st cool spell has arrived and I am unable to open my windows to fully enjoy it!

Again and for a longer span this time I am remaining boarded. It's gloomy and depressing inside, however I have so much difficulty finding someone to board and unboard me, I figure it saves me stress! And money! Rarely, have I found someone willing to do it for free or even at a reasonable price. There are lots of gougers out there! And as a woman alone I'm a special target.

When the tropics are tranquil, I look forward to autumn. I love the early evening darkness it brings. I find it calming and it heralds the best part of the year, the holidays. However this boarded up darkness feels unnatural and confining.

I recall the 2004 hurricanes with horror. Florida was slammed by four! Here on the east coast we were hit by two, just three weeks apart to the day. My friend Margaret who lived in the center of the state suffered the fury of all four!

Until I moved to Vero Beach, I experienced only two hurricanes in 48 years on the Treasure Coast. I've been in Vero for 18 years now and have been hit by four! Actually five since Irma struck here as a category 1!

Now, every year starting in late summer I freak out!  One day we will get a direct hit from a category 5! Stronger storms are forming than what we've experienced in the past. Even a category 4 is catastrophic! Heck, even a 3 or less can be!

Unlike last year, all the signs were apparent that we were in for a hurricane! Spring and summer were unusually dry. When this happens nature over compensates by sending one. Plus the sea turtles were building their nests high in the dunes rather than along the shore; another ominous sign!

I was telling everyone way back in July that we were in for a hurricane this season! Last year I saw Matthew coming in my tea leaves. Some people now accuse me of being some kind of witch!

A deadly hurricane gave the Treasure Coast its name. A gold and jewel laden Spanish fleet sailed directly into one in 1716. Its treasures still turn up in our waters. This entire area is part of the old Spanish Main. But to me, it's become hurricane alley!

I am hoping, praying, and wishing no more hurricanes will be making landfall in the future! Let them all blow out to sea and dissipate! Like everyone else, I need to get on with my life.

Glad I didn't delay my cataract surgery or I'd have been in the dark in a worse way, it would have been permanent!

FARSIGHTED AGAIN!!!

My cataract surgeries were performed a week apart. These lenses  are supposed to last a lifetime. This is wonderful news!!!

The first surgery was by far the smoothest. I don't remember anything after they gave me the sedative. It was as if I slept thru the procedure, which I probably did. It was the easiest surgery I'll ever have.

Afterward, I was offered snacks. (I'd not been allowed anything to eat or drink since 3:00 AM that morning. (But the day before I enjoyed a big holiday style meal.) After surgery, I should have been starving, but I wasn't. And I didn't miss coffee or tea one bit, but I was dying for a glass of water! Ugh, their snacks sucked and almost made me throw up!

That day was the beginning of a tropical front moving thru bringing almost non-stop rain for a week. Fortunately, I had my umbrella and I use my garage door as my main entry. This prevented me from getting soaked when the shuttle brought me home.

I remained woozy for awhile afterward, but when the fog lifted my vision was amazingly sharper. The eye was sore; I saw streamers of light and weird flashing in my peripheral vision, along with a strange rash under that eye. But it was more discomfort than pain. I didn't require even an aspirin.

When I sat down to watch television that night suddenly I had High Def TV! -- I don't subscribe to it, but that's how everything looks now! I didn't realize my vision had declined to that extend.

The next morning when I looked around, my first thought was that I need to remove myself from Facebook and start cleaning my house! And mind you my windows are still boarded plus it was dark and stormy outside.

The following day, I felt I could drive to the grocery store, however my street was flooded and the rain showed no sign of ceasing. Water was over my ankles by the mailbox and up to my calves further down the road. I have an older, low-built car. If water splashes up into the fan belt my steering wheel locks, it wasn't worth the risk!

I was forced to dip into my storm pantry. Thanks to hurricane Irma it was well stocked!

My snowbird friend Marie called to tell me she would be returning the Saturday after my next surgery. Her refrigerator had died over the summer, so she needed to use my garage freezer. Thanks to an active hurricane season there was plenty of free space.

The day before my 2nd surgery, I was finally able to go grocery shopping. When I returned, I discovered my garage freezer leaking! I phoned Jetson Appliances and asked for the cheapest 5 ft. freezer they had and how soon they could deliver. In the morning, I was told. I informed them I was having surgery then.

Early the next AM, the shuttle came. This surgery was far more unpleasant.

In the waiting area is a large TV screen set on a Golden Oldies channel. Previously, I listened to Disco tunes I hadn't heard in 30 plus years. Now it was 1960's tunes from my High School days. This dated music did not make me feel young; it had the opposite effect.

Unlike the previous time, I was awake more during this surgery. My left eye was dilated so large that the iris was nearly invisible. An excruciatingly bright light was shined directly into it. It felt like torture!!! I wanted to close my eye but couldn't and my head was taped down so I couldn't turn away.

I'd been given anti-nausea medication this time, so I was starving afterward! And the snacks they offered were still crappy! For what this procedure cost; I should have been given a 4 egg French omelet, cheddar biscuits, pecan pancakes with fresh strawberries & whipped cream, and a large mocha latte to wash everything down!

On a trip to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco back in 1977 I met a lady who was a young bride in Nazi occupied Holland. She said the Dutch wanted to throttle the American pilots for dropping chocolate bars while the people were starving! -- I know this is a silly, invalid comparison; but that's what popped into my head as I was chowing down on the cereal bars I'd brought from home.

Next, I waited around for what seemed forever for a post operation exam before the shuttle driver could bring me home. Again, I'd been given huge dark sunglasses that went over my eye brows and covered the sides of my eyes.

I wasn't home even long enough to change clothes when the new freezer arrived. However, it was damaged and the wrong size!!!  I wanted an upright 5 ft. freezer and this one was 5 cubic ft.! It wouldn't hold all of my stuff, much less Marie's, too! Plus it had a broken handle! I sent it back for a replacement. This was another big expense at the wrong time!!!

My vision didn't return nearly as fast as before. I was literally blind in my left eye most of the next day. The following one, it returned, but was exactly the same bad sight as before the procedure! -- However I was told that each eye responds differently and it would come around eventually.

Now that my vision is fully restored, I'd like to take an exotic trip to make the most of it, however these peepers didn't come cheap, so that's out of the question for the near future.  :(

Hopefully in my next incarnation I'll have bionic eyes; however they must have remote viewing and be able shoot fire or lasers! Now THAT would really be fun!!!

YIKES, WHAT'S THIS NOW

That was my reaction upon learning I had cataract issues.

 

One of my favorite cartoon strips BIZARRO recently featured a man declaring himself "Officially Old" because he wasted 10 minutes chasing an eye floater with a fly swatter! Good grief! For the last 20 years I've been battling a giant hornet in my right eye!

Back in 2012 during my first visit to the Florida Eye Institute I was warned this giant floater would someday come apart, and when it did, the retina in that eye was liable to come unattached. This has been my worry ever since without any thought to cataracts.

Now I must have cataract surgery I can barely afford. (No Insurance & ineligible for Medicare.) The alternative is going blind!!! 

Between this hurricane season, the expense of my upcoming surgery, and this insane Trump presidency; I haven't been able to sleep!

Usually, I get up and watch a movie on my DVR.  Often these late night movies are the ones that stand out most in my mind. But not anymore! These nights I can't even concentrate enough to follow a plot, not to mention my TV screen is getting ever more blurry.

A friend told me that cataract surgery is a right of passage as we age. -- Then how come old people in centuries past weren't all blind? Sure their life spans were shorter, yet many who survived into dotage managed to hang on to at least most of their sight. Guess it's all in the genes.

I was required to take a physical exam before any surgery could be performed, one more added expense!!! Personally, I think if I can walk thru the door under my own power I'm fit for the procedure, but they disagreed. Geez, now I had to find a walk-in clinic! With my waning vision I was almost scared to drive. I couldn't see road signs until I was right on top of them!

I had no problems with familiar places, but having to locate an unknown address in busy traffic added to my nightmares! 

Fortunately, after my eyes were measured for surgery the Institute recommended a clinic close to them that was easy to find. And when I showed up to schedule an exam they did it right away! Also the Eye Institute has a shuttle that will pick me up and bring me home. My right eye is the worst and will be first. 

Now I can stop practicing saying and pronouncing, "Hola & donde esta el bano?" since both surgeries will be performed here in Vero Beach. And with the recent earthquakes in Mexico this probably is for the best. Just imagine being in the middle of eye surgery (or any surgery) when an earthquake strikes! Now that is anxiety inducing!!!

This is a simple outpatient procedure. I'm far more stressed and tearing my hair out over the COST, not the surgery!

November 1, the post Halloween horror arrives, my property taxes are due. UGH!!! Mine are close to $2000! I think that amount is crazy for the place I have!

I just hope we don't get hit with anymore hurricanes in the near future. With my high hurricane deductible it would be at least 2020 before I could afford any repairs to my home!

I may come to regret not expatriating to the Third World. However I didn't find it to be the retiree paradise all the international publications claimed. What I have here, even with my limited funds and hurricanes, is more of a paradise!

THE THREATENING MONSTER

When I unfolded my newspaper Saturday AM 9-9-17 it read:  STATE OF FEAR in all capital letters. I thought that was an understatement!  Irma a category 5 hurricane was headed directly toward us! A CAT 5 is a roof-ripper! Even if it weakened to a 4 it would still be catastrophic! I wondered if I would have a house remaining or even be alive on Monday.

I joked that if I survived I would be poor, homeless, & blind! But the joke was too close to reality to be funny. At least my house was insured although my body is not. And hurricane deductibles are high and I needed that money for my cataract surgery! This couldn't be happening at a worse time!

On the other hand, if I didn't survive it would solve all of my problems. However, there's a long list of people I do not want to be reunited with in the afterlife! So I had to get myself together!  

I tried to determine what I needed to save and what I was willing to sacrifice to the storm. I wasn't actually willing to sacrifice anything but I had no choice. And some of my choices I started to reconsider afterward, such as my bathing suit. Despite a thorough washing it still smelled of the Galapagos Islands from my trip 2 summers ago. I didn't want to part with it or any of my souvenirs from Thailand. None of these were Sophie's choices, but all of my things are precious to me.

Everything I wanted to save needed to be downstairs; even then I could still lose everything due to the category of this storm. By the end of the day every muscle in my body ached from lugging things down those stairs.

I put together a grab & go bag with all of my important papers, cash, and several changes of clothes in the event I had to evacuate to a FEMA trailer, later. However I was determined NOT to spend the storm in a shelter. Others I'd known who rode a hurricane out in one swore they'd never do it again. And these are people who enjoy the company of others. I am not one of those! At least in my home I'd only have to deal with hurricane drama without the added people drama too.

My safe room has always been the windowless downstairs bathroom. However, with a storm of this magnitude I was starting to rethink that. Should my cathedral ceiling be peeled back or the front door go flying away, I doubt the bathroom door would hold  once the storm was inside. And if the garage doors should bend, my car could be blown right thru the bathroom wall killing me inside! -- During hurricane David, a lesser hurricane back in Stuart, my father's car was blown from our carport and down the driveway.

I decided my new safe area would be the back hallway. It didn't have a door to close, but it was next to 2 rooms I could quickly escape into and hope at least one would hold.

 

Before I went to bed that night I planned to pull the mattress off the daybed in my guestroom and push it off the loft railing onto the carpet below rather than try to drag it down the stairs. I wondered if I'd ever feel the comfort of my own bed again.

Food was plentiful in my storm pantry. And besides my 2 huge plastic jugs & lots of empty milk bottles, I filled everything that would hold tap water, including waste baskets & tea kettles. My water was divided into 3 categories: drinking, washing, & flushing.

Earlier in the week, I called number after number in desperation trying to find someone to board my house. Mostly, I got answering machines. The few who picked-up told me they were too busy. One suggested I call a church! I felt they were telling me I didn't have a prayer!

Finally, one man phoned me back! He said he would be here noon Friday to board up my house.

Thursday afternoon, my neighbors across the street astounded me! After letting me twist-in-the -wind during 4 previous hurricanes they offered to board me! By now I had the only house in the neighborhood unprotected. I thanked them, but a man was coming noon the following day.

But then, Friday came and it was getting late in the afternoon and storm winds would be arriving Saturday. The man I hired was running way behind schedule still boarding other people. I was starting to panic! So I called my neighbors. But I could tell they were not happy about it.

They boarded-up my house and I'm grateful! But they made it clear they would NOT be unboarding. One even told me, "If you need anything else, knock on our door and then keep moving." -- Geez, tell me how you really feel!

The man I hired finally showed up around 5:00 PM Saturday. I must have been dead last on his list!!! I paid him to repair a board that came loose and was hanging from my chimney. Apparently, that previous workman I'd hired to replace rotting wood had missed more than a few places!

By Saturday afternoon, Irma had shifted farther west. We were out of the cone but due to the gigantic size of this storm we would still be in for a wild ride on Sunday!

Due to that shift in direction we were spared the worst of Irma, although Sunday became wild and wicked starting in late afternoon. I was praying my electricity would hold long enough to watch the season premiere of Outlander. -- What a difference a day makes!

As I watched the show, I listened to the fierce howling winds outside and the heavy rains besieging the house; I heard the exploding of power going out in the next neighborhood over. I held my breath.

At 11:00 PM when I went to bed, I was so confident of not losing power that I left both my flashlight & hurricane lamp downstairs. It was something I came to regret! The power went out at midnight!

The next morning I would not be enjoying the large celebration breakfast I planned on preparing. My electricity would not be restored until around 5:30 PM. But I was still without TV, Internet, and a phone. The small battery-operated pad I'd purchased for my trips refused to connect. It told me what to do, but offered no direction as to how. I wanted to smash it on the floor!

I remember going thru hurricane Della when I was 14 and David when I was 28. Both times, when the power was restored EVERYTHING came back at once! And our landlines worked even during hurricanes! In fact, my phones still worked during and after hurricanes right up until I subscribed to the bundle in 2010. So there's something to be said for the good old days. Della & David were Stuart hurricanes.

After moving to Vero Beach came Irene, Frances, Jeane, and Wilma! The place my father swore never got hit by hurricanes due to its angle on the map! I knew better, but you couldn't tell him anything.

Tuesday, became my outside clean-up day, starting early and still sore; I picked up branches in my yard and raked leaves. My hands & feet became cut, blistered and bug-bitten. My clothes were soaked in sweat. This is Florida after all and it's still summer. Around mid- afternoon I'd had enough and decided to save the rest for my yard man. But plenty of work was still awaiting me inside.

Thankfully, there was no damage to the house itself.

Wednesday, unable to reach me, my friend Rose, fearing I was dead or injured drove over. I was still without phone, internet, or TV. We used her cell phone to report the problem to ATT. They told us they were aware of the issue, but didn't seem optimistic about resolving it anytime soon. But at least I had light and air-conditioning which many in Florida were still without.

If not for my daily newspaper I would have no idea what was going on in the outside world! Friday was a joyous day when everything was at last restored! However my boards are remaining up until hurricane season ends in November!

FLASHING WARNING LIGHTS

Not long ago, I watched a movie on my DVR titled: Would You Rather. The premise: A sadistic billionaire holds a contest and he pays the survivor's bills for the duration of their life. Of course I was rooting for the young and pretty vegetarian with the sickly brother.

The contest consisted of a series of choices all of them unpleasant to say the least. Choices such as would you rather have all your fingernails yanked out by pliers or your head held under in a barrel of urine for two minutes? Next question, do you choose to have a nail hammered thru your tongue or receive a major electric shock to your privates, and on and on.

Just recently, I had an eye exam at Sears. My right eye was by far the worst. I joked that I needed a monocle.  But the Optometrist was concerned about the pin prick flashes of light I kept seeing. He strongly suggested that I schedule an appointment at the Florida Eye Institute.

"If those lights become streaks or resemble lightning seek medical attention immediately," he told me.

Two nights later, I got up to use the bathroom and both times I saw all kinds of streaks and lights in my right eye! Alarmed, I was unable to go back to sleep.

First thing the following AM, I set up an appointment with the Eye Institute. Then I phoned Sears and told them to put my order for the 3 pairs of glasses on hold. If cataract surgery was upcoming my prescription would change.

Suddenly I could relate to the movie dilemmas above. I was faced with the choice of a tremendous hit to my already low savings or going blind! And there is no billionaire in this picture except for that piece of human excrement in the White House, the one who promised affordable health care for everyone. I didn't vote for him because I knew there was no way this pompous buffoon could ever deliver. His current political party fought tooth & nail against it. I'll never forget those hollers of "Let them die!" followed by laughter during a previous election season.

I contacted a Medical Tourism site online. Tijuana was the cheapest, however that's a border town with a reputation and I'd fear for my life! The next was Cancun, this sounded better, like a vacation without fun.

However, my friend Marie, who has been to Mexico, more recently than I have, said even Cancun is not safe anymore. Back in the 1970's, Acapulco was a beautiful (although swelteringly hot) tourist spot. I was there, twice. Now it has become so crime ridden and dangerous the tourists avoid it! Still Cancun might be my only affordable option.

After a thorough exam at the Florida Eye Institute, I was hit with the news that cataract surgery was required on BOTH eyes!!! I don't have Insurance and despite my age I don't qualify for Medicare due to my history. And I don't qualify for Medicaid because I'm just poor, not destitute.

The Florida Eye Institute is lenient with low income people as to prevent them from going blind. They will perform the surgery at their rock bottom price. But even that is sky high to someone like me! Plus I just had lots of expensive major repairs to the outside of my home! But I budgeted for those and cut-back and went without. This is a tremendous out-of-the-blue expense!

And now because it's TWO eyes rather than one, this makes Mexico less of a bargain. Only one eye can be operated on at a time. This means I'd have to hang around Cancun longer. Besides the cost of airfare, there's the hotel fee, meals, taxis, etc...Also I'd be away from my home during peak hurricane season. I need to stay for damage control.

So I will probably have the surgery here. I just hope there are no complications to further run up the price.

I'm only 66, I thought it would be another 10 years at least before I'd be faced with the health issues I'm now experiencing. My legs feel as if they've been shot with Novocain from the knees down due to Peripheral Neuropathy. Fortunately, there is no pain now, just numbness. Unlike my Diverticulitis!  According to Google the frequent burning sensation in my left arm is nerve damage. And then this!

Suddenly I'm feeling elderly.

And now a major hurricane, Irma is poised to strike and turn our beautiful Treasure Coast into a junk yard.  Oh no!!! That's all I need!!!

A HUNDRED ACRES OF HEAVEN

Early summer 1958 my family moved from Hobe Sound, (a place tantamount to paradise in my mind) back up the coast to Stuart.  My father had just landed a high paying job there and understandably wanted a shorter drive to work. Still I was quite unhappy about moving. I loved our rental home on the Intracoastal Waterway and its proximity to the ocean. Nothing could top that, I thought!

But I was wrong! We moved into a sprawling house in the middle of a hundred acres. A private lake graced the front and several small ponds were scattered in the back, along with a fresh water spring.

The lake was beautiful! It formed in a lopsided figure eight with a little arched white bridge over the narrowest part. We frequently fished there. Also we had a small blue row boat. Wild ducks lived on the lake and later my grandfather added tame ones, too. On the south side was a mango grove and all around was an abundance of beautiful nature. It was just like living in a private park! To enter the property, one had to drive thru huge white gates.

The house was by far the largest and best one ever! Visitors often asked if we got lost. My favorite room was the spacious library. It featured a fireplace, a beautiful Oriental carpet, and a big picture window overlooking the lake. This adjoined a large family room with high glass windows on 3 sides that half overlooked the lake and half overlooked the mango grove. The home had long halls on opposite sides. At the end of one stood a spot that could be transformed into a room surrounded by nothing but a circle of doors. My friends and I used to sit in the middle with a candle and tell ghost stories. The house even featured a special room to enjoy coffee and dessert overlooking the lake. This place was nothing short of amazing!

As before, we were only renters, but my parents assured me that we would not be moving again. The owner was a German with a "VON" in front of his last name. How cool was that! These truly were days of splendor.

Only months after moving there, my father bought me my heart's desire, a horse! Suddenly, I became quite the popular little girl! Now, lots of kids wanted to visit and ride it. They also enjoyed the rowboat, plus we swam in the big front lake and the back pond closest to the house. Of course we had to be wary of alligators, (a real problem in Florida) but the element of danger added to the fun! Friends invited other friends, even older kids now wanted to know me. I reveled in my good fortune and thought it would last forever, but sadly life doesn't work that way.

My glorious childhood was soon to end.

One day, the owner came to visit and noticed the horse. Suddenly our rent went up! My parents grumbled, but paid. But it was quickly raised again, and again! My folks were livid; we were maintaining these vast acres at our own expense! But apparently the guy didn't want a horse on his property.

Yes, the horse was temperamental and did some damage, but it was repaired at our expense.

One afternoon I came home from school and the horse was gone. He'd been sold! I was sad, but not surprised. My parents felt he was dangerous and had become a potential lawsuit as well as a rent issue.

Then one autumn evening as my family sat around watching the nightly news, my brother asked our mother, "Do you want to start taking stuff over to the new house, tomorrow?"

"New house!!!" I exclaimed. "What new house???"

"We've moving," Mom replied in a casual tone. "We bought a house on the St. Lucie River."

This was a major shock! I wasn't aware they had been even shopping for a house!

"But I love it here!" I protested.

"Oh, but you'll like this new house much better!" my grandfather replied.

Well I HATED it from the moment I saw it! It was less than half the size of the lake house and the inside had a weird clinical feel. It stood on barely one acre with noisy and intrusive neighbors around us. I felt closed in. Nothing about it felt like home to me!

Perhaps it was bad Feng shiu, strangely our lives all seemed to quickly unravel and go downhill after moving there.

My brother was drafted into the army. He was later honorably discharged due to medical issues, but became a different person after discovering alcohol, there. My grandfather died a year after our move. We quickly went from a family of five to a family of three. My mother's unhinged nature emerged and expanded 10 fold. The toxic fallout landed fully on me. Five years later my father lost his job thru no fault of his own. Our lives continued on that downward path with many far worse things yet to come.

Living there, I felt as if I was treading water with sharks in the distance circling closer, while at the same time struggling not to drown. That feeling has never gone away.

My father finally sold that place in 1998 and I was delighted. We moved to Vero Beach in January of 99.

Our river house was hardly cheap, by 1960 standards the price was considered high end. However, we were actually paying for the mile wide river view and the 150 ft dock, below. This is what my mother fell in love with and why we bought that house.

She imagined living there would be like heaven, she told me later, but instead experienced only misery. Well, the previous place had felt like heaven to me!

For decades to come, not one single day would pass when I did not think of the lake house. I often dreamed of buying it. My heart would sink whenever we drove past the property.

In my late 30's, I heard the property had been sold to a developer. I was horrified to learn the lake and all the ponds had been filled killing everything in them. And the wild ducks would no longer have a home there. Also the mango grove had been bulldozed. My father said all of this was done to create ground to build more houses.

This threw me deeper into darker depths of depression during an already wretched period. I'm thankful every day those times are gone.

Our lives are made up of not just chapters, but many entirely different books and I'm not ready for this one to end. My current home is the one that restored my happiness.

Each day is filled with an assortment of joys and victories and I savor all of my small creature comforts. They make it worth living. But if I had the power, I would return to being eight years old again and freeze that time forever! My world felt almost magical then! Money or health worries were as remote as the constellation Cassiopeia. It was a period consisting of pure joy and peace of mind, now gone forever.

UGH, NOOO, GLASSES AGAIN!

A miracle occurred after Vero Beach was hit with the back-to-back hurricanes of 2004! My far-sighted vision was magically restored! I had been near-sighted since the age of 16. Now once again miraculously I could see the detail on leaves in neighbor's yards and much, much more! Of course my near-sighted vision was now completely gone, but this was way better!

"You have second sight," the optometrist told me.

"Well, I have had many experiences that fall under the supernatural category since my father's death," I replied.

"No, no, no," she said. "It has nothing to do with dead people!"

The more I think about it, actually it does!  It's one of those milestones on the march toward death after age 50.

Also she warned this blessing was only temporary and not to become too fond of it.

But I felt liberated! Now I was able to drive, go to movies, attend live shows, and watch TV without glasses and actually be able to see! It was a wondrous sensation!

Also I conquered my fear of public speaking at Business Networking events, I could see faces clearly now without being self-conscious about wearing glasses or dealing with the bother and discomfort of contact lenses. I hated those things!  Life was beautiful now.

Fast forward to the present! Recently, I noticed I was having difficulty seeing things on my large screen TV. My first thought was to buy an even bigger screen; however those are expense, so I just moved my chair up closer.

Then I noticed the print online, in newspapers, and magazines was becoming blurred and faint. I bought the strongest pair of Dollar Store glasses available, they helped some, but not enough. I found myself continually switching back and forth between pairs depending on the print before me. Also I could no longer see the time on my kitchen clock from the living room.

Suddenly it was as if a curse had fallen upon me. I ended up having to purchase 3 pairs of glasses; one for computer, one for TV, and a pair of sunglasses for driving. And worse the optometrist said in a year I'd probably need an entirely new trio because I'd reached the age where my vision would be rapidly changing.

Another thing that really bugs me is that I can no longer wear lots of cute sunglasses to match my outfits. Now I'm back to one boring, neutral pair that must go with everything! I'll admit this is a big kick in my vanity! I may be a fossil, but otherwise I'm a magnificent and dang well preserved one!

I just wish I didn't loathe the taste of carrots! Perhaps then, I wouldn't be saddled with glasses again. Also I'm seeing pin prick flashes of light in my right eye.

Guess I should be grateful that my second sight lasted thru my exploratory adventures to Ecuador and Thailand. Those trips were amazing! However I won't be expatriating to either.

But the worst news of all is the cataract surgery in my future according to the optometrist. Guess I should start researching Third World countries that can perform this procedure at a price I can afford since I lack Insurance and am ineligible for Medicare.

I want to continue my foreign travels, but I hoped it would be as a tourist and not a patient.